Sonic and the Deliberate Mary Sue 2
by Velvet D'Coolette
Summary: Starla Brighteyes returns to the war-weary Knothole Freedom Fighters. But Sonic, Sally and the rest of the team know what they are up against now, and the Mary Sue finds herself alienated.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

 _Dear Diary,_

 _There's this new guy in my class. His name's Phyre Blackpaw and he's hot! I like him. No, you don't understand, diary - I really, really like him! He's got wings like I have and he's part dragon and he's got black fur with mint-green stripes and the most gorgeous smile and this really furry chest because I think he's part wolf like I am - we've got so much in common! - and he's got these really sexy dark red eyes and he's so handsome! All the girls like him, but he's gonna be mine!_

 _I know how I'm going to do it: I'm going to make sure I look like, totally amazing when I go into school tomorrow. I've always liked my breasts and midriff so I'll make sure I show them off, and I'm getting highlights in my hair at the expensive place tonight, and then tomorrow I'll try and get him and me alone. But first of all I'm going to walk up to him after class and say, 'Hi, I'm Starla Mirage Brighteyes. I think you're hot! Why don't you take me on a date?' I mean, I would do it before class but I figure that'll look kinda desperate._

 _Ooh, Diary! It's going to be just perfect!_

 _But I still gotta be quick because I saw Purity and Licious and Rayvin-Ebony looking at him in Science today. I gotta get there first._

 _Mwah!_

 _Starla xx_

 _xXx_

 _He brushed me off for Taboo! I can't believe it - he blew me, Starla Brighteyes, out! Is he blind? I made sure I looked great! I got those low-rise jeans especially for asking guys on dates!_

 _He must have no taste or something. I mean, I don't mean to be a bitch, Diary, but Taboo isn't all that. For a start her clothes are too slutty. I mean, I know I dress to show off but at least I can carry it off. He just doesn't realise what he could have with me._

 _Or is it me? Is that it, Diary? Is something wrong with me? I get asked on dates. So I must be fine. Maybe he thinks I'm ugly. I looked in the mirror for an hour when I got home, trying to work it out._

 _Doesn't he think I'm sexy? Doesn't he think I'm fun? I don't get it._

 _I don't feel like seeing anyone else today. I'm staying in my room. I don't even wanna go downstairs for dinner. I might order a pizza if I don't wanna eat what mom's cooked._

xXx

Bunnie hunkered down next to Sally and gazed into the campfire. Stray embers flew up to the Great Forest's canopy before drifting back on down and snuffing themselves harmlessly out on the grass. She noticed with a gentle smile that they still looked darker than the summer evening sky. The days were so long at this time of year.

She loved it when the Knothole Freedom Fighters got together like this and got along with just being kids. She looked around at the others and listened to the good-humoured talk. Yeah, this was the life!

Next to her, Sally unclipped NICOLE from her boot and flipped it open. "NICOLE," the ground squirrel said relaxedly, "play Song of Summer."

Song of Summer was a classic and warm tune, and a great backing track for laid-back gatherings like this. Bunnie closed her eyes and quietly hummed along to it.

NICOLE hiccupped and the song jumped. Bunnie opened her eyes and looked at NICOLE. The music carried on as before and she closed her eyes again. Another jump. Bunnie shared a look with Sally. NICOLE played fine for a few more seconds but then the song stuck completely. With a small sigh Sally picked up the machine.

"NICOLE, run diagnostic on circuits," she said.

"Running, Sally," NICOLE replied with a show of lights. Bunnie turned her attention to Sonic and Rotor.

"Nah," Sonic continued to the walrus, "all I'm sayin' is that if you wanna learn guitar you ain't gotta start with the crappy kids' tunes. You gotta play what you want, right from the start and right from the heart! That's how you keep interested."

"Yeah but," Rotor began, his voice deep and smooth, all the more so for being relaxed among his friends, "you gotta pick somethin' easy, right?"

"Yeah," Sonic admitted, "but what's the point in..." Bunnie carried on listening. That was music enough when a rabbit was with people she loved.

"Yo Sal," Sonic said, "Get NICOLE to play that riff I made the other day!" He turned proudly to the walrus. "Rote, listen to this baby!"

"I can't, Sonic," she answered. "NICOLE's malfunctioning and... it... looks like..." her speech slowed as NICOLE neared the end of the diagnostic. "Yep," she confirmed tiredly. "She needs a new chip. Well, I guess we can sort that out for tomorrow night."

"Aww, Sally-girl," Bunnie whined good-naturedly, "Can we talk about raiding later? It's too nahce to think about all that raght naow."

Sally smiled at the cyborg. "You're right, Bunnie. Forget it for now, guys..."

xXx

Starla felt so humiliated! How could Phyre have done that to her? She'd worn the best and most revealing stuff she could and gone right up to him. If he hadn't been so hot she'd think he was a dick.

But the day after she felt a little better. It was hot and sunny so she decided to take the day off school and fly. Flying was her guilty pleasure - if anyone knew that she actually _liked_ to be on her own and fly then she'd have to commit suicide or something. Even she wondered if it made her a little weird.

But Starla knew she was a good flier, so flight always made her feel better.

She looked around at the park, at the rolling grass and the flowers and the trees. Nobody from school was around so she opened her wings. To fly good she had to hold off from getting off the ground right away. Instead she flapped just a little, which made her wing muscles warm up and feel more sensitive and move better. The anticipation grew as she felt the breeze go through her fur and clothes and feathers and hair (which she had to tie up so it didn't get in her eyes).

A strong wind came up the side of the hill and she beat her way up and soared away from the dirt. And away from certain stuck-up guys who thought she wasn't good enough.

The wind whistled in her ears and her face fur blew this way and that. Her primaries and the air pushed against each other.

 _Stupid Phyre._

One particular thing about flying always made her feel better when she felt angry. Dives. _Fast_ dives! So that was what she did.

First she got as high as she could, up until the air got too cold and stung her eyes and the wind started to pull her about too much. Cycling her wings just to stay this high she blinked away her cold-tears and looked at the town below. Tiny people in all different colours, the glamorous streets and shopping precincts and the edge of town where the old people lived when they got just too old for anyone to care about them any more.

Just looking at that little bit of town made her feel bored.

 _You'll be there one day,_ warned a voice at the back of her mind. The idea scared her.

 _Shut up!_ she thought back and tried to forget the whole thing, including the fact that she'd just had a conversation with herself. _Freak-o._

She pulled in her arms and legs, narrowed her wings into little triangles... and fell into a fast dive.

The air tore past, so cold it made her nose freeze, so hard it felt like it was cutting into her flesh. Her stomach went weird as she dropped towards town. It felt good to fall this hard when she was angry. _What if I did it even more extreme than this?_ In one slick move she tightened her wings even more and dipped straight down into an extra-quick fall.

Fear! It chased the anger totally away for a second.

Dust.

 _What?_

She smelt dust just then. Or it smelled like it, anyhow.

 _Dust, up here?_

But thinking about it was interrupting her stunt so to make the fear spike again, she tucked into a ball and somersaulted.

She saw the empty sky above her as part of the tumble. Except it wasn't empty. A ring of light! Before Starla knew what it was it sucked her in _and swallowed her._

 _The dusty smell came again and she worked out where she knew it from. That place, between worlds._ Damnit! _How'd she get here?_

 _Twisting, she looked for another ring of light. That was how she had got out of this place last time, by flying through a second ring, and it had taken her to another world. A world where there the animals were all of just one species per person and mostly brown and grey like mud and rocks, except for a cool blue guy who was pure hedgehog. A world where she'd been the brightest and most glamorous girl around and the other girls were jealous of her. A world that was at war with a fat human._

 _There! She saw it! A hoop of light. She tilted her wings and glided for it._

xXx

The warm day encouraged the Freedom Fighters to go outside to discuss their chip-stealing mission. In the meadow beside the village they could enjoy the breeze while they talked and be sure of total privacy.

For now there was nothing Bunnie could add to the conversation, so she glanced discreetly into the distance as Sonic and Sally bickered. She was about to look back at the pair when she noticed something further out in the field. Her heart sank and her hackles rose.

"Oh- that's just... Great!" she moaned. The others had a look.

Rotor palmed his face. "Oh brother," he said through gritted teeth. "Not again."

Approaching Knothole, picking her way through the clumps of thick grass, was none other than Starla Brighteyes. Bunnie watched the hybrid approach and felt her mood sharpen: last time she and Starla had met they'd clashed. Big time.

xXx

Sally was surprised to see the alien female again - she thought they'd sent her back for good last time. She watched Starla for a moment. Small white stars - an exotic element from Starla's world - flowed like water from the hybrid's body.

Sally thought quickly. None of the others would feel friendly towards Starla. She decided to do everything she could to keep things amicable.

Had Starla returned on purpose or was this another accident? She prepared to greet the alien with a pleasant smile on her face.

xXx

Starla looked at the group. They were all there: hunky Sonic, that bitch Sally, funny Rotor, the guy with the accent... and Bunnie. She could already see Bunnie's envy in her sour expression and tight shoulders. The rabbit who'd been so jealous last time that she'd hit Starla.

Sally looked like she was straining to be polite. Obviously she was stuck between being arrogant and feeling jealous.

Starla thought back to the time Bunnie had hit her and decided to ignore the rabbit completely. Sally looked friendlier, but Starla didn't want to talk to her. She knew who she _did_ want to speak to. As she came up to the group she looked at Sonic from under her lashes and pulled her hair out of its bun. She shook it loose and it tumbled down over her shoulders. "Hi Sonic," she said with a seductive smile, and tilted her head so her hair fell over one eye. If Phyre hadn't wanted to make use of her charms then Sonic could instead!

Sally answered. "Hi Starla. We... weren't expecting to see you again. Are you ok?"

Starla looked disdainfully at Sally for a moment - she hadn't spoken to her! Clearly the winged female had to make a point, so she stung as hard as she could: "Better than you, girl."

Everyone's eyes went wide. Well, except for the guy with the accent, who looked like he was trying to work out what she meant. Bunnie started to step forward, but Sally lifted her hand to stop her. The accent guy saw that and looked at Starla as if she'd just robbed a bank or something. With a hard glare Bunnie folded her arms and gazed into the distance.

"...Starla..." Ha! Sally was stuck on that one!

Starla smirked as she waited for the princess to work out how to answer. She glanced at Sonic to share the joke with him.

Sonic looked angry. But before Starla could work out why he wasn't impressed (guys liked being fought over, didn't they?) Sally answered.

"I guess you've only just got here?"

"Back with a vengeance, I guess you could say!" Starla flicked her hair, pleased at her wit. She planted her hands on her hips and waited for Sally's answer. If she could even think of one.

"So I'm guessing you don't have anywhere to live right now."

That stopped Starla in her tracks. And made her _really_ angry.

"Do you want to stay in the same hut as before?"

 _Oh. My. God. You seriously better not be threatening me. Seriously!_ Starla started thinking about where else she could stay. ...What if she said she'd stay with Sonic?

"I guess it's an option," she answered through gritted teeth, a warning to Sally that if she went through with this threat she'd go and live with Sonic in revenge. "but I could always find somewhere else..." She left that hanging.

Sally sighed a little. "Starla, if you want the hut all you need to do is ask."

Starla felt naked then. _Devious bitch._

"Starla." Sonic's voice was low and level. _Stop being difficult,_ it said. "Take the hut."

Starla didn't know what to say so instead she just nodded and stormed off to the hut with a flounce.

xXx

The hut had been too small before and it was no bigger this time. She sneered and went through into the bathroom to check herself in the mirror.

They were all such dicks! What was _with,_ Sonic? She smoothed her fur, wondered for a moment whether that'd been the problem, and then decided that it probably hadn't. Sonic wasn't really like that. Which was odd, because he was good-looking enough to be.

It was Sally's fault. She'd poisoned Sonic's mind against her. Well, Starla knew ways to get a guy's interest back! She checked her eyeliner and decided she had what it took.

Then something occurred to her: she hadn't paid any attention to Rotor. It'd been funny playing with him last time... But that was old, she decided as she pulled her stomach in and turned sideways to admire the view. The game was over. But if Sonic and Sally were going to act weird then he'd be good for a laugh. Had he even noticed his _weight?_ Nobody back where she came from would _ever_ let that happen to them!

She decided to go back and have another try. Her hair in perfect order, she smiled at her reflection and left the bathroom.

xXx

She found them again and caught them debating furiously between themselves. As she got closer she heard Bunnie whisper, "Well, Ah don't wanna talk to her - you can be nahce to her all you want, Sally-girl, but Ah'm stayin'-" Then she caught Starla's eye, folded her arms and looked away.

Starla looked from her to Rotor, who looked away too and tightened his jaw. She tilted her head in confusion. Why would he be like that? _Maybe he's just sulky all the time,_ she decided. Well, if he was going to be like that she'd talk to somebody else. What was his deal, anyway?

"So," Starla said to the group to move on and make sure she looked assertive. "What's going down?"

Sally swapped a glance with Rotor and said, "We were just talking about how to get you back to your universe as soon as we can."

Starla felt her face fall. "But I just got here!"

Sally sighed. "Your friends must miss you! You shouldn't worry them, Starla, however much you like it here."

Starla blinked at her. Was Sally really so insecure she had to get rid of her? "They're not my keepers, Sally. Just sayin'." Then she looked at Sonic again. She _had_ to win him from the princess! "And anyway, what's the rush? I can just hang out here a while."

Sally thought for a second, then sighed and said, "Okay Starla, if you're sure. Rotor will make you up a bottle of hydrogen gas tonight like he did last time-"

Starla glanced at Rotor again, whose expression hasn't changed. _So boring,_ she thought and looked back at her jealous little enemy.

"-but we have a problem with NICOLE. We need to go to Robotropolis tomorrow and get a chip to repair her. So we'd have to have kept you waiting a day or so anyway."

"Okay Sally, that's fine by me," she answered and gave Sonic a winning smile. He rolled his eyes and looked away.

Why did everyone keep doing that?

"Okay. Now that's sorted, let's get back to our mission plan," Sally said and the others came into a circle together. Sonic said something to do with SWATbots or something and Starla lost interest. Instead she left to look around the village.

xXx

Starla unlocked the hut and went in again. It probably wasn't normal to want to be on her own for the second time in a day, but everyone's behaviour was kinda freaking her out. She sat down on the side of the bed and gazed at the floorboards.

She didn't understand it. She looked awesome and she'd arrived with a bang. She knew the Freedom Fighters had got kinda pissed before she'd gone home last time, but surely they understood that she hadn't done anything wrong? She'd been happy to forget all about Sonic's frostiness and the girls' jealousy, so why couldn't they?

It was all too weird.

She looked at the bookshelf. Maybe she should try and forget about it. She got up and picked a book with a bright red cover, and sat back down with it. The words were all in alien writing. It bothered her. She didn't know why, but the fact that she couldn't understand a single word made her nervous.

To calm her fear she turned the page. If she could find pictures then maybe she could work out what it was about and it wouldn't be so scary? No pictures, just alien squiggles. She turned another page. None there either.

She started to get a cold sweat and turned them more quickly. Writing, writing, writing. Shaking a little she bent the rest of the pages and flicked through really fast. Not a single picture.

"Oh, it's not fair!" she wailed and threw the book away. It landed upside-down beside the bed. It _wasn't_ fair!

Starla Mirage Brighteyes flung herself down on the bed and hid her face.

xXx

She got up a while later and looked around. The hut was too small. What if she _did_ ask Sonic if she could stay over at his? The thought made her shiver. If she lived with him he wouldn't be able to resist! So, full of hormones for the blue guy, she left the hut to find him. She even let the door hang open without shutting it properly. After all, she wasn't coming back, right?

As she walked along she saw a female otter washing her laundry in Knothole's river. The brown female looked up as Starla passed. Starla craned her neck to see what the otter was washing, but all that got was a furrowed brow and the cold shoulder. Weirded out, Starla hurried on.

Only a few steps further she heard a quiet grunting sound. Which... If she listened carefully, sounded kinda like Sonic. It _was_ Sonic, she just knew it! She tracked the sound, totally excited and curious about what he was doing.

Down on a sandy part of the river bank she saw Sonic doing sit-ups. He was so damn hot!

She brushed her hair over her shoulder in preparation to say hi. _Wait 'til he sees me!_ she thought, _He'll forget all about Sally! Look out, Sonic: this time Starla's ready!_ She puffed out her guy-magnet chest and glided down to the sand.

But as she got closer she started to get nervous. He'd been acting so strange, what if he did it again? But she squashed the feeling to the back of her mind: he'd like her! After all, he'd been totally into her when they'd first met.

"Hello," she said sweetly.

He jerked with surprise, looked up at her and dropped his arms to the ground. He frowned and sighed. "Hey, Starla," he replied, his tone flat as if he was disappointed. "How's it goin'?"

 _Now for Starla's seduction!_ "Great," she purred and sat down beside him. She gazed into his eyes. They were dark... and yet bright at the same time. She imagined getting lost in them. She let her tail unfurl and flicked the end to make him look at it. When he looked back at her face he could take the whistlestop tour and see her legs, her flat stomach, her rack...

He noticed the tail-flick but just looked uncomfortable and shifted a little away from her. She knew how to deal with that: she leaned back casually on one of her hands and waited for him to make the first move. But he didn't. She began to worry again. _Kiss me. Kiss me,_ She thought.

He looked back at her. "So... what do you want?"

 _Do it,_ she thought, and dipped in to kiss him on the lips.

He growled and scooted backwards, then wiped his mouth and shot her an angry glare.

"Starla, what the heck?"

 _What?!_ she thought in disbelief. How could he not like that? Damnit, he was just like Phyre!

"Didn't you want me to kiss you?" she asked plaintively. Was her figure invisible on this planet or something?

"No! I didn't!"

Now Starla was getting upset. She inched closer. "But why not?"

"Look- will you just get away from me?" Sonic snapped and stood up. He looked like if she approached again he'd leave.

It was so unfair! Starla's could feel that she was about to cry so before Sonic could see it she got up with as much dignity as she could manage and flew away.

She looked for some distraction and after, like, _forever_ she found it. Or rather, she saw it's fat belly and big clawed feet sticking out from under the workshop sink.

TO BE CONTINUED...

DISCLAIMER: "Sonic the Hedgehog" and most other characters and situations in the following story are copyrighted trademarks of Sega Incorporated, Archie Comics and/or DIC Productions. Permission to reproduce this specific material may be granted by the author so long as you email first. © 2013 Velvet D'Coolette.


	2. Chapter 2

THE NEXT DAY

Rotor lay on his back, spanner in hand, in the unit beneath his sink. He was fixing a damaged section of the pipe that yesterday evening had sprung a leak. Part of the pipework had rusted through and needed replacing, and that was his first task for today. He was concentrating on this work and didn't notice Starla approaching until she was already in his workshop.

"Hi, Rotor," she said suddenly. The surprise made him sit bolt upright and bang his head on the underneath of the sink bowl, making a loud clanging sound and sending down a small shower of rust that fell onto his face.

"Uh, hi, Starla," he replied, hastily rubbing painful rust particles out of his eyes.

Starla paused for a moment. "your voice sounds different."

 _Oh, please, Starla, don't talk about that again,_ Rotor thought irritably to himself. He felt the familiar cringing embarrassment of a few months ago and deliberately took a little longer to wipe his watering eyes: he didn't want to deal with her talking about that any more and clearing his eyes seemed good cover. _Get her to talk about something else,_ he thought. "Yeah. So, how are you?" he replied, deliberately trying to focus the conversation on her, not him.

He heard a shuffling sound and opened his eyes to see her pink feet scuffing the floorboards uncertainly. "Okay," she mumbled unconvincingly.

Rotor realised that was his cue to ask what was wrong. He rolled his eyes before he began to take part in this contrived conversation. "What's up?" he prompted plastically.

"I don't think Sonic likes me," she whined. _What?_ Rotor thought for a moment. Was he misunderstanding the situation or was Starla talking to him about her love life? Unsure of how to reply, he plumped for:

"Why do you think that?"

And she told him. In what the walrus considered to be excessive detail, telling him about the kiss and emphasizing her anguish at Sonic's rejection. At first Rotor held her gaze and nodded understandingly, but as her monologue wore on and he became irritated by her incessant whining, he ducked back underneath the kitchen surface and continued his work. Although Starla didn't say it outright, Rotor detected that, threaded into her words, she had a clear dislike of Sally. He was grateful that Starla couldn't see his face, because eventually he found that he couldn't keep from making annoyed expressions at the underneath of the sink.

Nevertheless, he continued to listen to Starla's problems, to her description of somebody in her home universe called Phyre Blackpaw and about her feelings for him. And he in turn made occasional noises to let her think that he was still listening: "Oh, really?", "Uh-huh," "That's terrible." It seemed to do the trick.

At length Starla stopped talking, but it was a few seconds before Rotor realised - he'd gone onto autopilot after about half an hour. He looked around at her feet - now off the ground as she sat on his worktop, her tail swinging loosely. That was a relief, Rotor decided. He'd just about had enough of sympathising with her. She seemed to have run out of things to say.

"I'm _bored!_ "

"Starla!" Rotor snapped in irritation, then realised he didn't want to get into a fight with her. "Why don't... you..." he scrabbled around in his mind frantically for a way to finish the sentence. What could he suggest she did? What did girls like her do in their spare time? Shopping, he supposed. Shopping! Yes: "...go shopping?"

"There are shops here?" she asked with interest.

"Yeah. Down the western end of the village. They're not far." Rotor was pleased with her reaction: it sounded like he could get her off his back!

"But I don't have any money," she said mournfully _Damn! Of course,_ he thought.

Rotor, like the other Freedom Fighters, was always short of money. All of them survived on handouts from the rest of the village, and there were precious little of those to go around. Rotor quickly weighed up whether he could spare 10 mobiums to get rid of Starla and decided that it was worth it.

He pulled himself out from under the sink and went to find his money pot. He took out a bill and offered it to Starla. "They're not too far away," he elaborated, pointing in the direction of the shops he was sending her to. "You can't miss 'em!"

Starla looked at the bill and then at him with a smile. "Thanks, Rotor!" she said in a sweet voice, and then, in one fluid movement and before he could retaliate, she gave him a peck on the cheek and bounded off in the direction he had pointed, leaving a bristling and irritable walrus wiping his cheek and storming back to the kitchen unit.

SONIC SATAM

Rotor wouldn't have known of course, as he wasn't the materialistic type, but shopping in Knothole was a decidedly dull experience. There was a regular grocery store, a freeshop, a clothes shop kept by a budding (though not very skilled) seamstress and a fur-trimming salon that doubled as a budget beauty shop. It is this last shop into which Starla went.

She stood looking at the labels on a shelf-full of boxes. She was unable to read them, for again, the language was one with which she was not familiar. It was clear from the pictures, however, that they were fur dye, and she selected one showing a black outline.

She took it to the shop owner. "Can I buy _this_ with _this_ much money?" she asked, placing the box on the tabletop and showing the shopkeeper the 10 mobium bill.

Luckily, her choice of product cost exactly 10 mobiums and she left the shop to head straight home. She would dye her fur and feathers black today!

STARLA'S HUT: THE COVERING PHASE

Starla spread the primaries of her left wing and painted henna mixture along their lengths. The mixture, thick and smooth, sank into the fibres and covered them, dulling her natural bright pink. Then she turned the wing over and repeated the action on the other side. Carefully she half-furled her wing again and stretched out the leading edge to coat the smaller, tertiary feathers there.

As she worked away, covering more and more of her body with black henna mix, she found the time to about the events of the last two days.

It was as if everybody she spoke to didn't like her. As if the world was against her and wanted her to be unhappy. Phyre hadn't cared when he had rejected her, in fact, he acted as if he had wanted her out of his world altogether. She sighed sadly at the irony of this. On the other hand were the Knothole Freedom Fighters. When she had found them, they had been only too quick to prepare to send her back, and out of _their_ worlds. She sighed again; where did Starla belong? She didn't feel happy right now, that was for sure.

Her brow furrowed in concentration as she reached around awkwardly to plaster the mixture onto her back.

THE WAITING PHASE

Starla paced slowly back and forth in the bathroom, covered from head to toe in the homogenous black mixture. She had wrapped herself in a non-breathable film that had been part of the package she had bought; it kept the goo moist and helped it to sink into her fur. It also had the effect of restricting her movements and made her feel clammy and uncomfortable. But that was how it had to be while she waited for the henna to take effect. It felt horrible.

It was also in imperfect covering and the mixture kept on seeping through gaps. She couldn't travel very far and so stayed in the bathroom for these few hours, where the dye could do no damage. And while she paced, she thought some more.

She felt like she was being cut off from society. As a teen, she thought it important to have a mate, but she was having a lot of trouble finding one. More trouble than she would have thought she'd have. She'd always been so sure of her attractiveness and yet, the males she had approached so far didn't seem to think the same of her. It was tragic.

She looked sullenly at her arm and poked the mixture through the film. It gave a little and squelched.

THE RINSING PHASE

Starla unpeeled the film; it was slimy in parts, clingy in others, and difficult to remove. It clung to her in patches; she tried to grip into it with her claws but her claws sliced straight through it without removing it at all. All she could do was try to pick at it with the rough pads of her fingertips, and it took an annoyingly long time. After a great deal of trial and error she eventually managed to get rid of it all and stepped into the shower.

Relieved to be rid of the cloying film at last, she turned the dial on the shower to switch it on... and screamed as a heavy flow of ice-cold water belted her from above. She scrambled backwards out of its path and hastily turned the heat up, before venturing tentatively back under. Satisfied that the water was comfortably warm, she set to work dislodging the henna. The mixture ran off her body and swirled around in the tray before disappearing down the plughole. She ducked under the nozzle again and ruffled her wings to dislodge the lumps of henna from in-between her feathers. She stroked her fingers through her fur and wiped the wettened mixture from her abdomen.

She felt a lump in her throat; she was anxious and tired from worrying so much about her popularity. Her face crumpled with grief momentarily as she washed the henna from the corners of her eyes. It swirled away like the rest of the dye, like her hopes.

THE DRYING PHASE

Starla rubbed a towel along the lengths of her hair, blotting up the excess water. Her hair always took the longest, but the rest of her was virtually bone dry already.

Knowing that she was almost finished, she walked distractedly over to the mirror and dropped the towel on the floor. She looked at her mirror-image and took in the striking sight; she was now completely, from the tips of her ears to her tail, and entirely, black. She was as dark as midnight, and thoroughly clean.

Yet she felt irrevocably tainted.

She had worried endlessly over the past few hours about what people thought of her, but she was still no closer to working out why. Was it fate that she would never be happy? Were people jealous of her position as the councillors' child? It was impossible to know and Starla tried to shake the thoughts free.

She turned around to inspect her back; she pulled up the fur on her thigh to look at the roots. The dye had sunk in thoroughly; nobody who saw her for the first time now could ever know that she had once been pink. Her spirits were low, she felt miserable, but yet her new look pleased her.

The small white stars that usually seeped from her skin seemed to have disappeared; she ruffled her newly black pelt and saw that the white substance was trapped close to her skin. Open to the air it tumbled out as a small stream of stars. Laying her fur flat again, the sparkling stopped. Her clear blue eyes shone in scintillating contrast against her black face; her feathers were glossier than they had ever been before. A small smile played over her face; she would go out and find the Freedom Fighters again, and see what they had to say about her new look!

And with that, she clipped her dagger-holders back onto her wrists, waist and shins and walked out the door with a spring in her step.

SONIC SATAM

Sonic, Sally, Rotor and Bunnie were out on the meadow playing a game of frisbee. Altogether they were having a great time and laughed as they played.

Bunnie threw it to Rotor, who caught it with a grunt. He ran to lead Sonic away from Sally. Sonic caught up with him easily, but Rotor doubled back at the last second and tossed it to Sally. Sally, panting, span the disc back in Bunnie's direction. Sonic leapt high and caught it before it reached her, and came back to Mobius with a thump.

"Hey Sal, that the fastest you can throw this thing?" he asked, not the tiniest bit out of breath. "This is waaay too easy, man!"

"Sonic!.. I'm throwing it... the best I... can!" Sally replied between gasps of air. Bunnie laughed at Sonic's audacity and Sally waved a hand in the hedgehog's direction dismissively; she was ready for a break. "I'm getting a drink!" she announced and turned to walk over to the village again.

"Yeah, me too," Rotor conceded and followed. Sonic turned to Bunnie.

"You playin' any more, Bunnie?" he asked hopefully. But the rabbit shook her head, a little short of breath herself.

"Nah, Honey. You got me beat!" and with a harrumph of mild disappointment, Sonic walked side-by side with her to follow the others.

SONIC SATAM

Starla caught sight of the Knothole Freedom Fighters walking in from the meadow and took off to glide closer to them. She noted that the air felt slightly different as it rolled over her wings; maybe the henna had changed the surface of her feathers or something. Oh, whatever. That wasn't important. _Just wait until they see me!_ she thought excitedly. She alighted within talking distance and kept her wings spread wide and raised her head high: surely they would be impressed!

Sally was the first to look in her direction, the others not far slower, and Starla prepared herself mentally for their gasps and wows. Bunnie's warm banter with Sonic turned quickly into a stony silence as she saw her. She looked deliberately the other way and Starla decided to ignore the rabbit. Everybody stopped walking and stared at her, goggle-eyed in surprise. But... not in a good way. This wasn't going as Starla had expected: there was a collective look of disdain from them all. For a moment, the animals were in a bizarre situation where everybody was standing together, but nobody was saying anything. The suspense was killing Starla. _Oh, come on!_ she thought, _Tell me what you think!_ Her heart clenched unpleasantly as Sonic offered Starla nothing but a shifty glance and then looked the other way. Sally took a slow, deep breath and Rotor too pretended he hadn't seen her. _They don't like it, do they?_ Starla thought. It was too late for her to turn around and leave, so she stayed. _I'll ask them what they think. I have to know!_

"Hi," she said breezily, in the hope that they would lighten up. Everybody except Bunnie made half-hearted noises of greeting and Starla looked from one Freedom Fighter to another, saddened by their response. She tried again: "Thank you for lending me money, Rotor. I got fur dye!" she said and spread her wings and arms again to show off her new colour. He clenched his jaws and then offered her a thin smile.

"Great," he said tightly. Nobody else spoke. Starla felt a lump rise in her throat as the awkward silance stretched stretched on, and on. She hadn't expected such a cold response.

"D-do you like it, Sonic?" she prompted. He just offered her an uncomfortable shrug and stepped around Rotor. He paid no further attention to her and disappeared inside the nearest building.

Starla felt her eyes moisten. She looked from the doorway Sonic had walked through to Bunnie. Bunnie rolled her eyes and followed Sonic. Starla snarled at the rabbit. _Self-important bitch!_ she thought; she was angry now. These people didn't deserve to know her! They _sucked!_

"Fine! If you all don't like it I'm going _home!_ " she snapped and turned her back on the group. She spread her wings to take off, suddenly painfully aware that she was showing them her - failed! - makeover, and caught the breeze.

Who needed such fickle friends, anyway?

SONIC SATAM

Sally watched Starla climb a little way into the sky and tip to glide into the village. She was surprised that Starla had elected to fly away; it hardly seemed worth it to fly when home was so close. But of course, she knew that the hybrid was simply trying to add drama to the situation.

Starla's new colour was news to her; not so the fact that Rotor had given her money. He had told the others about his encounter with her while they were on the way out into the meadow. It seemed to Sally that everybody was pretty much united against Starla. Unsurprising: Sally had to admit she felt like doing the same herself. Starla was highly insensitive and seemed to expect a thick skin from her comrades. However, she certainly didn't have such strength herself and it looked to Sally that she was genuinely hurt by everybody's lack of enthusiasm.

"Sally, you want some juice?" she turned her head to look into the doorway, at Rotor holding a jug over a glass and looking at her. She took one last look at the place where Starla had been and decided to carry on with her evening.

"Yes, I'd love some. Thank you," she replied gratefully. But at the back of her mind, Starla's deep upset remained like a barb. _How will she react to being pushed out like this?_ Sally wondered. _How far is she going to go?_

SONIC SATAM

Starla landed heavily outside her hut and tried to push the door open. Then, remembering she needed the key she hurriedly attempted to untie it from her belt and inadvertently tightened the knot further. With a cross between a grunt and a scream of frustration, she picked it loose again with a single claw and pulled it free; finally she unlocked the door. She flung it open - in keeping with her fury - and slammed it shut behind her. It bounced off the hinge and opened again, so she grabbed the inner handle again and shut it slightly more gently, burning inside with frustrated rage.

Finally inside, she screeched with fury. _I hate it! I hate it!_ she ranted at herself. Then her anger inverted into bitter sorrow and she leaned against the door. Great sobs billowed up from her chest and she cried loudly. She slid down the door and landed in a clumsy heap on the ground; she put her hands to her face. There she stayed, crying while thoughts of the Knothole Freedom Fighters' cruelty played itself out again and again dramatically in her head.

 _They_ hate _me!_ her mind shrieked, caught up in its own private gale of pain.

SONIC SATAM

The light had almost gone and the Knothole Freedom Fighters sat together with glasses of juice. Antoine, who had not been present for the game, had decided instead to sit indoors and write poetry. Sonic, Rotor and Bunnie sat forward, telling him by turns, and enthusiastically, about the encounter with Starla.

"She's turned herself black!" Sonic exclaimed. "I mean, what the heck?"

"Yeah, 'cos Rotor really needed her to do that with his money!" Bunnie added indignantly.

Rotor shrugged. "I guess I said she could do it. But it's weird to see her look like that."

Sonic snickered in agreement. "But hey! Did you see the look on her face when we didn't care? Man, it was like a storm!"

"Oh yeah!" Bunnie joined in the laugh.

But as the others continued to regale Antoine with the story, Sally found herself thinking differently. Sure, the others were affronted by Starla, but would the hybrid have done that if she didn't need approval? Certainly her storming-off supported the theory. Quietly she let the others gossip and resolved to think the situation through more thoroughly once she was by herself.

SONIC SATAM

Starla sniffed. She was still sitting on the inner side of the front door, thinking about the events that had just taken place. Everybody hated her! She couldn't _stand_ it!

Starla would once have considered herself a great friend: cool, outgoing and stylish. She's always done the best she could to be like that. But it was almost like, for the last year, everybody she met didn't like her. It was getting worse and worse, and now she found herself doubting whether she was as good a friend as she'd thought she was. The thought made her scared and she wrapped her wings around her for comfort. She hugged the right-side one close.

She thought again about the Freedom Fighters, in particular about Sonic, who she liked very much. Sonic was cool, and therefore, she thought, he and she were _perfect_ for eachother. But instead, he liked _Sally._ And almost as bad as that, he even hung around with _Bunnie! Why?_ _Why Bunnie,_ of all people?! How wrong could he _be_ for that? Maybe Bunnie had turned him against her. Maybe that's why he didn't want her, why he didn't like her kissing him. She probably had.

And what about Sally? Sally had probably told him not to mix with her, too. Sally was demanding like that, and cold and calculating, and Starla was sure that the princess meant to make her look as small and insignificant as possible in front of Sonic. That's the kind of thing girls like Sally did, wasn't it?

And Rotor was just as bad. What was wrong with _him?_ He had been so grumpy at her ever since she got here, like he just wanted to get rid of her all the time. And yet everybody liked him, too. Why did everybody like him if he was like that? Was he really calculating, too? Was he just trying to keep her away from his pal Sonic? Probably.

It was all so _unfair!_ Suddenly Starla felt that she needed to get her anger out, right _now._

Wanting to damage something, she grabbed a feather on the leading edge of her right wing and tugged furiously at it. The pain was excruciating: it was a big feather with a thick shaft, and she was sure that her wingtip bled even as she tried to pull it out, but she was determined to do it, and with enough yanking, it finally came out. The pain made her shudder, but it also made her focus; it was a distraction from the invisible agony inside her head. She moved her hand further up her wing and pulled out another, smaller one.

She started to cry again; everybody had been so bad to her that she was forced to do _this:_ pulling out her own feathers. They didn't _know_ how bad they were for that! Sally, Bunnie, Rotor... They'd _all_ made her do this!

Or was it that _she_ was such a bad person that she had no other choice? Was _that_ it? The confusion made her let go of her wing and she hid her head in her arms. Sobbing uncontrollably, she curled up on her side and waited for sleep to claim her. The tip of her wing smarted, and that kept her awake for a while. Even going to sleep couldn't go right.

Life sucked.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Chapter 3

MIDNIGHT

The inside of the hut was shrouded by the black cloak of night. Moonlight lanced down at the floorboards from a thin gap between the curtains, narrowing and widening as the curtains ruffled in the gentle night-time breeze. Nothing moved, save for the occupant's slow breathing. All was quiet.

Starla woke, despite the darkness and silence. She felt groggy, but at first she couldn't identify why. She stretched. Gradually, she became aware, as her nerve endings became more alert, that she was on a hard surface. She looked down and saw why: she was on the floor. _Why am I down here?_ she thought, feeling lost. Her arm was within view and she looked at it; even in the near-darkness she could see that it was black.

That brought it back to her: she had dyed herself black. Then she had gone to show the Freedom Fighters her new colour. They had been dismissive of her, and she had stormed back to the hut, horribly upset. Yes, that's what had happened. She had cried and cried, and then curled up and gone to sleep on the floor. With this realisation Starla's face cracked into an expression of pained grief; she felt tears begin to surface again. _It was so horrible!_ she lamented to herself, _They all hate me!_ She shed a tear, and it coursed down her muzzle, drying up in her fur as it went.

 _So why are you on the floor?_ a part of her mind asked again. Mentally, she stalled. _I'm on the floor because they upset me. It was terrible!_ she justified herself, and the grief clenched her stomach again. _Yes, but why are you on the floor?_ her mind repeated earnestly. Starla felt irritable at the question; it cheapened her upset. She was on the floor because they had made her feel unwelcome!

 _But how is being on the floor helping?_ her thoughts persisted. _Your hip hurts, your shoulder hurts, and so does your cheekbone. The floor's hard. It's not nice down here,_ it reasoned further. _So why stay down here?_ Starla screwed up her nose, defensive in the face of this reasoning. _Because my heart hurts!_ she retorted hurtfully. That was reason enough.

 _So your hip hurts, your shoulder hurts, your face hurts, and your heart hurts,_ Starla's mind reasoned. That seemed better. For a moment. Then: _Why don't you get into bed, then just your heart'll hurt._

This logic was beginning to annoy Starla.

 _Alright, alright: I'm on the floor because it'll show them all how much..._ she began to argue before realising how flawed her point was. She looked at the bed. This morning she had hastily strightened the sheets after the night's sleep. They were crumpled, and gleamed slightly in the moonlight. They looked soft and inviting. _It looks awfully comfortable up there,_ she thought.

Maybe it was worth it. With her lip jutting out sulkily, she got up. She approached the bed, giving it sideways glances at it as if it were mocking her, and reluctantly lay down on it, belly down. Once there she spread her wings to the sides, the better to rest. She took hold of the pillow and hugged it, making it squash up toward her face. Then, finally able to relax, she buried her chin in it. That was better.

 _They don't like me. They hate me!_ she wailed and hitched in a sob. With nothing else to distract her, more tears came, and she let them. But before she went to sleep again, she rustled her legs to remind herself of the soft smoothness of the mattress beneath her.

MID AFTERNOON

When Starla woke up again it was day. A strong beam of sunlight came in from between the curtains, where hours before the moonlight had been. The air was warm and brought with it the scent of a forest in full bloom. Birdsong chattered, threaded into the constant rustle of leaf against leaf. It was a beautiful midsummer day.

But Starla wasn't impressed. She grimaced through the curtains at the clouds that were floating shamelessly through the sky and levered herself up, supporting her weight partly on her wings. The one on the right felt sore in places and she examined it. _Oh yeah,_ she thought flatly. _I pulled feathers out last night._

Humph.

She looked at the floor where those 5 or 6 feathers sat, completely still on the floor. Reluctantly she dragged herself across to the room, indifferently aware that the feathers swirled and wafted in response to her movements, through to the bathroom, and filled the sink with water. There, she studied her reflection. _If the Freedom Fighters want me to go,_ she thought, _I'm damn well going with them to get the job done._

They would _not_ leave her behind on the mission. Sally would _not_ shoulder her out of it.

SONIC SATAM

Outside Sally's hut the Freedom Fighters were gathered in a group. They were making preparations to go to Robotropolis, and were just about ready to head off. The whole team was present, and at their centre kneeled a blue hedgehog.

Sonic checked the contents of his rucksack for one last time before pulling it on to his shoulders, and he was ready for the coming mission. As he did this, Sally stood to one side and ran another diagnostic on NICOLE.

"Well, I know exactly what chip we need now, and Robotnik makes lots of them," she said to the group at large. "I'm pretty much ready."

"So everyone's ready to go?" Sonic asked generally. Bunnie, Rotor and Antoine nodded and agreed. Sonic stepped out of the centre of the group and to Sally's side and the group made a complete circle. "Then let's do it to it!" he said. The others took his cue and reached in with their own hands to mirror the signal they knew so well.

SONIC SATAM

All was set: Sally was ready for this mission. They would go into one of Robotnik's production labs, get a couple of the chips she needed, and get back out. It would be a simple trip and she felt relatively untroubled. The Freedom Fighters had walked to the edge of Knothole and were about to strike out toward the polluted city when Bunnie looked back, behind them all. "Oh, for gosh sakes! Not _again!_ " she announced irritably. Suspicious, Sally looked back, too. Just as she thought: Starla was coming after them.

The hybrid approached sullenly, without her usual overblown show of enthusiasm, and Sally remembered the previous evening. _Of course!_ she thought to herself, _Starla was upset!_ As the other female approached she looked from Sally to Sonic and back again. Her eyes looked dull, despite their slightly luminous quality. As she approached them she took a breath and spoke.

"Are you going to get the stuff you need?"

Sally shared a glance with Sonic and said, "Yes. We're going to Robotropolis now."

"I want to come with you," Starla replied abruptly. Sally was just wondering how to respond to this when she heard the rest of the group sigh with disappointment behind her. Starla looked at the group behind Sally and suddenly her face was like thunder again.

"Well don't blame _me!_ " she blurted. "I didn't choose to be here and if you want to get rid of me then why don't you bring me with you so you can do it _quicker?_ " her breath choked in her throat as she said this. Her eyes moistened and her fists clenched at her sides.

Sally was surprised by Starla's suggestion: last time she'd been here she'd thought she could lead the whole group. Indeed, she had tried, shortly before her capture by Robotnik's Hoverbots. But Sally saw that this time, Starla was different. This time the hybrid had a grim air about her, and that wasn't like Starla. Sure, Starla had many faults, but this sullen bitterness wasn't one of them. And yet, laced into the upset Sally saw something else: there was a spark of determination, too. She weighed up Starla's immaturity with her insistence; she heard the others' silent pleading not to bring the hybrid with her own sense of reason. She came to a decision.

But before she could open her mouth Sonic spoke up: "No way, Starla! Don't you remember what happened last time? You ruined our mission! You'll only-"

"Sonic," Sally interrupted quietly, but insistently. The hedgehog stopped mid-sentence, clearly surprised by her interruption. He looked at her, waiting for her to explain. "Look," she continued, trying to work out a way to convince Sonic that this would be a good idea, "Starla's asked to come along instead of following us secretly. Don't you think she has the best intentions?"

"Uh, Sal-" he began, but she was determined that, if Starla really thought she could come on a mission then she should. "Yes, I know she made some mistakes last time, but she just asked," she continued, aware that the others were looking at her in surprise behind him. "She wants to help; it's a low-risk mission and she's right - if she wants to go home then she should stay close to NICOLE. Wouldn't it make sense for her to come along?"

Sally glanced at Starla to gauge her reaction to this. Starla goggled at her. She seemed utterly shocked to have the princess speaking up for her. Sally looked at Sonic again and implored him silently to agree. His expression turned to one of stony defiance; he clearly wasn't keen. He looked at the hybrid again for a few seconds, his expression softened, and finally he relented.

"Okay, okay," he said heavily with his hands up. "Let's bring her along," he added offhandedly and sloped to the head of the group again. And with that, the Freedom Fighters continued silently on their walk in the direction of Robotropolis.

SONIC SATAM

The thick miasma above Robotropolis caught the evening light dramatically, throwing reds and purples and fiery yellows across the skies. Starla saw it and her jaw dropped, for she was amazed by the view. _It's so colourful!_ she thought in a daze. _The sunsets aren't this bright back in Knothole._ As she thought these things, she carried on walking without looking where she was going and blundered straight into the back of Bunnie.

"Hey, watch were ya'll goin'!" Bunnie snapped irritably. Starla gasped and instinctively leapt backward in response. The two regarded eachother for a moment. Then Starla took a breath to make a retort but before she could, Bunnie folded her arms significantly, robotic arm proud. Starla stalled: she didn't want to risk another punch from Bunnie. _Oh, screw you!_ she thought, and decided not to persue the matter any further. As the rabbit turned away Starla glared at her back and allowed herself to filter through to the rear of the group.

They passed through the gates of Robotroplis without incident, but Starla, who was too busy glumly watching the French guy's ankles as he walked ahead of her, barely noticed. She was being led by people who didn't like her, so that they could get rid of her sooner. She felt her eyes moisten again and her ears dipped. _It's not fair!_ she thought. _Why can't I get anybody to like me? Why did I come here?_

"Hoverbots!" Sally called suddenly from up ahead. Starla shook herself free of her thoughts to look up into the sky again. _What? Where?_

Around her, the others burst into action. Starla stood stiffly in fear, for the moment unsure of what to do. She watched the French guy scramble for cover and hide behind a metallic shell. "Starla!" Rotor hissed on her other side and she looked over at him. "Over here!" he added urgently, waving her over sharply. She scurried to his side and ducked. Sonic was there too, and she was vaguely aware of him rummaging around in his rucksack, but the Hoverbot was swooping right by them and it was such a scary sight she could barely take her eyes off it. She watched as it swung around and came back for another look.

Then Rotor and Sonic stood up beside her, a rope with a hook attached in each of their hands. "Incoming!" Rotor called to Bunnie, who was doing the same over the other side. Starla watched as the three of them began to swing their ropes.

All three of them released their hooks at the same moment and caught the back of the Hoverbot. Half of it carried on flying... but half of it did not. Starla craned her neck and then flinched as the flying part crashed to the ground, destroying itself completely; the caught half dropped like a stone as she wrenched her head around to see. Its windows shattered, sending out glass shards that spread around their feet and twinkled. The bodycase lay still.

"Way to go, man!" Sonic congratulated Rotor and they high-fived eachother. Starla was amazed; she'd never seen the like of it before! Buzzing from the Freedom Fighters' triumph, she looked at Rotor as he gathered his rope back into a coil with a dilerious grin on her face. He looked dispassionately back at her for a moment, then unhooked his gaze from hers and sought out Bunnie instead. She whooped happily and the pair slapped eachother on the back. With a spring in their steps, the group gathered together and carried on their way.

Starla stumbled after them, looking from one Fighter to another in wonderment. She felt inspired by what she had just seen and she wished she could do that, too. Sonic's shoulders rolled confidently as he strode onward; and she watched him. _You're so brave,_ Starla thought breathlessly. _You're amazing._

Next to him, Sally looked around behind her for a moment with a worried expression on her face, caught sight of Starla and relaxed. "Come on," she called lightly, "it's this way," and Starla felt her limbs pull her forward without her conscious direction.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4

ROBOTROPOLIS

Starla had been following the Knothole Freedom Fighters for some time, weaving through streets and backways and across junctions, but she still wasn't sure quite where they were headed. She kept quiet as she followed and played out their defeat of the Hoverbot over and over again: the co-ordinated swinging of those hooks, the neat capture of the rear of the robot, its dramatic crash. _That was amazing!_ she thought to herself.

But yet, the team seemed to have forgotten about it already. Every time Starla tried to make eye contact with one of the group their eyes brushed over her and then faced forward again. Very quickly Starla felt her sadness begin to creep back in. These people were a team, she could see that, and she wasn't part of it. That made her sad. Very sad.

Presently they came to a large, squat building and came to a stop outside it. The Freedom Fighters arranged themselves in a loose circle to confer. Starla, suddenly aware that this was so and that she was on the outside of the ring, sheepishly squashed her way in between Rotor and the French guy, both of whom glanced at her and then paid her no further attention. Sally, on the other hand, sought her out. _Why are you being friendly to me?_ Starla wondered.

"That's the lab," she explained, indicating the building. "It's dark in there and only we know the way," she continued, "so you need to stay out here and we'll be back in just a few minutes."

Starla understood and, although she wished she could come with them, agreed to Sally's words with a single, dejected nod. And as they turned their backs on her and walked away into the lab, she in turn faced away and began to walk sadly around the open space.

With nothing better to do she looked around. The space was typical of Robotropolis. Paper and some strange kind of black film swirled in the wind and the scent of pollution clogged her sense of smell. She looked over at the door into which the Freedom Fighters had disappeared; they had already disappeared. She huffed in attempt to dislodge the heavy feeling of loneliness in her chest and looked up at the area surrounding her.

Opposite the lab was a disused building with a flat expanse of roof. She spread her wings, bunched her muscles and flew upwards, past the shattered windows and up to the roof, where she landed. Up here the pollution was blown away a little better by the breeze and she took in a relatively refreshing draught of air. She turned and walked to the edge of the roof, where the walls rose up a little further to create a ledge on which she leant, watching the lab entrance and waiting for the Knothole Freedom Fighters to emerge.

Standing still like this, and with no sound but the wind to keep her company, her spirits began to sink again. _Why doesn't anybody like me?_ she mourned. _Can't anybody see how much it hurts when they hate on me?_ She closed her eyes and gulped as tears rose to the surface; surely nobody could ever understand how alone she felt.

A robotic sound came from the west and she looked over to see another Hoverbot approaching. With a short gasp of shock, she shrunk down against the meagre ledge and clamped her eyes shut against the attack she was certain would come...

SONIC SATAM

In the lab, the team were looking systematically through the tray labels for the chip Sally needed. The lights overhead, although fairly meagre, were all they needed to read the block lettering on the side of each. Bunnie, from the bank of shelves she had chosen to search, looked over at the princess.

"Ah gotta say, Sally-girl, that was a good ahdea to tell Starla it was dark in here!"

Sally smiled demurely in return. "I thought everybody could do with a break from her," she said. There were general mutterings of agreement and she turned back to the shelves in front of her to inspect the trays on it. The right kind of chip was in one of them, it was just a case of finding the right ones.

There they were!

"Aha!" she called happily, "I've got them!" She picked a couple out.

"You got the right ones?" Rotor called over.

"I've got two of them," she confirmed brightly. "Let's go!" And with that, the gang headed for the door.

Suddenly, A SWATbot stepped out in front of them, laser-gun in hand, and they all backtracked hastily. "Priority one: detain Freedom Fighters!" it monotoned. Four more SWATbots stepped into an arrow formation behind it.

Sonic swaggered forward. "Oh, yeah?" he retorted. "You're outta luck today, punks!" And without another word he sprinted forward and leapt in the air, pulling himself into a spin and knocking the lead SWATbot's head clean off. Its body struggled for balance and then fell to the ground.

"Way to go, Sugarhog!" Bunnie cheered, and joined the brawl herself.

That stirred Rotor and Sally into action: Sally sprang to one side and quickly rummaged a metal pole from a stack against the wall while Rotor dodged a laser-shot from another robot. It briefly cornered him but with a well-practiced nimbleness that belied his bulk he ducked out of the way. The 'bot was about to follow him but without warning its head caved in and Rotor put his hands up instinctively to catch its hollow carcass as it toppled forward. He opened his eyes to see Sally holding the pole triumphantly.

The princess looked around; the SWATbots had all been dealt with. Now all that was left was to round everybody up and leave before more turned up. "Antoine!" She called softly.

"I am coming, my princess," he replied from the other side of the laboratory worksurface. As Sally suspected, he had hidden, but he strode out of hiding and through the wreckage as if he had fought with all his comrades' valour and might. Sally rolled her eyes in mild frustration.

"Come on," she sighed, "let's go."

SONIC SATAM

Starla heard the Hoverbot whoosh over her and sank down further, terrified. She didn't dare move a muscle. The sound of its motor receded and she waited fearfully for it to return, the breath held still in her lungs. But that return took longer, and longer, and... longer.

Tentatively she opened her eyes and looked up and around the surrounding sky. The Hoverbot was nowhere to be seen. _But it must have seen me,_ she thought, puzzled. _It flew right over me._ She turned and looked the other way, but it wasn't there either. She frowned queriously, and then decided that it must simply have flown away. _Why?_ she wondered. Oh, what did it matter if it was gone? She leaned her arm back on the concrete ledge and looked down at the lab door to wait for-

Something was wrong! Sharply, she did a double-take at her arm. She still wasn't used to being black instead of her natural pink, and looking in the mirror at her black reflection this morning had surprised her, but this time there was something else. As she looked at her arm, at the black fur that covered it, she realised what had happened. Her dark colour had hidden her from the Hoverbot. She was camouflaged! A slow smile of delight spread over her face.

She had been _camouflaged!_ With a thrill of excitement, she looked down at her body, and then over the ledge from her vantage point at the various hollows and shadows below her. Each one, she realised with mounting joy, was now an effective hiding place for her. They were all hiding places she hadn't had last time, when she positively glowed against dark backgrounds. She couldn't help but laugh with the ingenuity of it!

 _I was invisible!_ she squealed to herself. For somebody so used to being the centre of attention, this was a shocking discovery. And yet now...

She had to tell the Freedom Fighters about this! She spread her wings and glided down to the empty square again. Down here, she looked around for a shadow to hide in. _There!_ she thought. _That one's perfect!_ She hurried over into the darkness and stood in the shadows, delighting in her new camouflage and waiting for her friends to return.

SONIC SATAM

Sally led the others out through the doorway of the lab and emerged into the sedate night-time darkness outside. She cast around for Starla, mildly at first, but with mounting worry as she realised she couldn't see the hybrid anywhere.

"Guys," she muttered. "Where is she?" she turned around to look more thoroughly at the other end of the open square. Starla wasn't there. She looked up in case Starla had taken to the sky; she wasn't there either. Sally cursed; she should have known Starla would get into trouble. She thought quickly. It would be dangerous to call out to Starla here; that would put both her and the Freedom Fighters in too much danger. They would have to search for her visually instead and that meant keeping everybody here for longer.

"Okay guys," she said to the others, "spread out. Look for Starla. She's gotta be around her somewhere."

"Ah, _man!_ " Sonic moaned. "I knew we shouldn't have let her come with-"

"I'm over here!" a familiar voice called suddenly and Sally whipped around to look into the shadows. Starla was walking out of a dark corner, arms held wide and with a big smile on her face. To Sally's relief, she looked unharmed. She felt irritated by Starla's unconcerned attitude to their worry, which she must have seen, but instead she forced a smile. She just wanted to get everybody out of Robotropolis now and apprehending Starla over this would do no good.

"Oh, there you are!" she laughed with forced gladness. "We were worried about you, Starla!"

"I was invisible!" the hybrid announced gleefully. "I dyed myself black and now I'm hard to see against the shadows and a Hoverbot flew over and it didn't even _see_ me!" she babbled and laughed.

Sally hadn't seen Starla look this happy before; she was acting like an overexcited child, giddy with the apparent discovery of her camouflage. She shared a glance with Sonic, who rolled his eyes. "Great. Well done, Starla," he congratulated her blandly. "Now let's get outta here."

The team turned in the direction they had come and Starla followed. Rotor looked at her and she grinned merrily in response. He offered her a weary smile and then followed his friends.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5

AFTER NIGHTFALL

The Freedom Fighters had returned to Knothole, and the night had long since fallen. Sonic stood at the centre of the gathering on the dais. The Knothole villagers had come out in force to hear of the team's latest success and as ever, he was perfectly happy to boast to them about it. After all, where was the satisfaction in beating SWATbots if not to tell the tale afterwards?

"So then Bunnie joined in!" he continued. "She kicked the legs clean out from under one, and punched its head so hard it came clean off and smashed a window!"

The crowd laughed at his commentary. Bunnie chuckled and waved him silent. "Ah, come on, Sugarhog, Ah weren't as good as all that!"

"Yeah, you were!" he announced, happy to big up his friend, and with that, the villagers erupted with whistles and cheers.

SONIC SATAM

Starla watched the adulation with rapt amazement: _she_ wanted people to whistle and cheer for her, too! And as Sonic bowed to his audience and Sally nudged Bunnie companionably, she saw her chance: she stepped up onto the dais herself and took a breath to tell them all of her own triumph. _Wait until they hear this!_ she thought dizzily.

"I did really well, too!" she began sweetly. The villagers reluctantly stopped their cheering as if they weren't quite sure what they'd heard. Some shared dubious glances with eachother; others' expressions became sour; arms were folded. Starla saw all this, but continued talking in the hope that they would be impressed when they heard her story. "I dyed myself black yesterday and I only did it because I was bored and then when Sonic and the others went into the lab a Hoverbot flew over and it didn't see me!"

She was met with a baffled silence. "It... it didn't see me at _all!_ " she repeated desperately. A few of the more polite villagers muttered quiet congratulations to her, but the their lack of enthusiasm was clear and she dropped her arms back to her sides unhappily. Still nobody spoke. _I don't want this,_ Starla thought. _I wanna get out of here._ Looking around quickly, she sought an exit to the dais and stalked stiffly through the crowd, desperate suddenly to get the spotlight off her. _I can't stand it! I can't stand it!_

She gulped in a hot, teary breath. Why did everybody have to be so _mean?_

SONIC SATAM

Sonic re-entered the circle and the villagers looked from Starla's retreating form to him. "Uh... okay," he began uncertainly, not quite sure how to lead on from this. "I guess that's our story!" and the more raucous members of the party cheered before disbanding into smaller clusters to talk among friends.

SONIC SATAM

Sally alone stood quietly amongst all of this. She'd witnessed Starla's failed attempt to tell her story just as much as everybody else had. But was it right to let Starla go off by herself when she was that clearly upset? She decided to go after her.

She walked slowly through the crowd, listening carefully to snippets of conversation from the villagers as she went. As she passed by she heard:

"What the hell was all _that_ about?!"

"I heard she called Bunnie a cripple and laughed at Rotor when..."

"Common tart!"

So Sally's suspicions were true: word had got around about Starla's last visit to Knothole and she was now unpopular. True, Starla had a way of alienating people, but Sally had seen a different side to her emerging today and she genuinely believed that Starla had done her best. She looked over at the space between two huts through which the hybrid had disappeared. She made for it.

It didn't take long for Sally to find her. Starla was sitting on a log by herself, leaning her arms on her knees and gazing at the ground sadly. Wondering whether she would regret this, Sally approached her.

"Hi," she said.

Starla lifted her gaze to look at her; she shifted her shoulders and looked back at the ground. "Hi." She sounded dejected. Sally sat down next to her.

"You did a good job today," Sally said. Starla eyed her uncertainly and looked at the ground again.

"They don't think so."

Sally looked in the direction from which the buzz of the crowd was coming. "Well... they don't know everything," she suggested philosophically. Starla didn't respond. "By the way," Sally asked, "what happened to your white lights?"

Without speaking, Starla showed Sally her arm and brushed her fur against the grain. Pooled under her undercoat but now released, white light fell in a small shower of particles and disappeared into nothingness.

"Oh," Sally returned, unsure of what else to say. Still Starla didn't reply, and she was starting to run out of ideas. Just as she was trying to think of something else to add, the hybrid spoke:

"It was good what you did with the ropes," she said. "I wish I could do that."

That gave Sally an idea. "Hey, Starla! Do you want me to show you?" Starla shot her a look of surprise. She said nothing, but her expression said all it needed to. Sally grinned and tapped the other female's arm. "Come on!"

SONIC SATAM

Starla wondered why she had agreed to this lesson. She stood with her feet planted at shoulder-width, the rope coiled in one hand and the hook dangling from the other. Her eyes were locked onto the branch Sally would instruct her to lassoo. She awaited Sally's next instruction, half of her keen to learn, the other half ready and on the defensive for the snide comments she was expecting from the princess. "And now start to swing the hook, slowly." So Starla did. "Keep your hips still. Concentrate on where it is in the arc at any given time; you need to know when it's facing in the direction of the branch." Starla did all this. It felt really awkward, but she managed it. "Now speed up."

Starla gripped the rope a little tighter and span it more quickly. "A little faster... and... Hook it!" Sally ordered. Starla let go of the rope and the hook flew off next to the tree. She snarled in disappointment; she'd wanted to get it, but that hadn't happened. She rolled her eyes in anticipation of the princess' sarcastic rebuke.

"It's alright!" Sally said kindly, "No-one gets it first time. Try again!"

Starla looked at Sally in surprise; she hadn't expected her to be so accommodating. Sally was impatient, highly-string, a bitch. Wasn't she? But all she seemed to be getting from her was patience and understanding. Was the princess being her friend right now? Dumbly, she trotted over to the hook to pull it out of the ground.

HALF AN HOUR LATER

Starla stood a fair distance from the tree, amazed at the sight before her. She held the rope in one hand. She'd just managed to hook onto the branch of the tree for the third time in a row and was now standing holding one end of the rope only. _That was... That was easy!_ she thought to herself.

"Great stuff, Starla!" the princess announced warmly and squeezed Starla's shoulders in contratulation. "You've got it!"

Starla looked from Sally, to the hook, to the rope in her hand. "That's all you have to do?" she asked. She was amazed: once you got your aim right, it was easy!

"Yes!" Sally replied. "That's all!"

Starla laughed, still not quite able to believe how easy that had been. "Wow!" was all she could say.

"Now," Sally said as she took the rope out of Starla's hand, "let's get back to the crowd."

Starla felt her face fall as her mood dropped in response to this. She couldn't. "Sally, I... can't do that." She felt her confidence vaporize again. Face the villagers after their rejection of her? No way!

"Of course you can!" Sally said heartily. Starla looked at her, unconvinced. "Look: if you can hook a branch at night when it's dark, you can face a few grumpy villagers." Starla saw the sense in this, but still felt unsure. Sally began to walk in the direction of the crowd, but turned to say: "Come on, you must be starved!"

Starla was. So she did.

SONIC SATAM

Sally successfully returned to the gathering with Starla in tow. The hybrid really seemed to have cheered up since their lesson, and that was what Sally had intended all along. Now all that remained was to get Starla mixing with other people again.

But there was one last thing she wanted to do first. Leaving Starla by the door to the hut serving food for the evening, she looked for Sonic and found him, bantering with Rotor. Sally intended to get Sonic to congratulate the hybrid too. That, she figured, would make Starla feel more confident in her abilities. And it was clear that Starla liked Sonic. Who didn't want a pat on the back from their crush?

There was just one, small problem: Sonic, for the duration of Starla's visit, had made no secret to her of the fact that he didn't like her. But Sally figured he might be interested to hear of her openness this evening. It was clear that Starla was pleased with her camouflage trick, and it seemed only right that she get some praise for it. So she was determined that Sonic should do it.

"Hi guys," she greeted and the two males looked in her direction.

"Hey, Sal!" Sonic said. Sally turned to the walrus.

"Rotor, can you excuse us for a minute?" she asked politely.

Rotor shrugged. "Sure, okay. See ya later, Sonic," he said lightly and took his leave. Sally faced the hedgehog.

"I've just been showing Starla how to lassoo a branch," she said. Sonic looked disdainful when he heard Starla's name, and then mildly surprised as he realised what Sally had been up to.

"Oh... So?" he asked.

"She did it," Sally said. Sonic offered her nothing more than an indifferent shrug. She continued: "I think she's a little down right now and needs some encouragement. You've seen how pleased she was with being black. How about you tell her that was a good move?"

He looked reluctant at this. "Saalll," he whined, but she wasn't having it. She put her hands on her hips and glared balefully at him. "She's just tryin' to get attention! You're only encouraging her!"

"Well, that's a little rich!" Sally retorted, "Coming from a certain hedgehog!"

Sonic couldn't resist an evil grin. "Yeah, but come on, Sal," he blustered, "I've got every reason to get the attention!" When he saw that his charm wasn't getting him his own way, he looked more serious again. "Starla hasn't got a clue!"

"But she did it," Sally insisted. Sonic frowned at her, and then, when she did the same, he gave in.

"Okay, okay. Fine," he sulked. "I'll go and do it now."

"Thank you, Sonic."

"My pleasure," he intoned sarcastically.

SONIC SATAM

Starla stood alone under a tree with a bowl of stew and a fork, picking at her food disinterestedly. She had already had a few dirty looks from the villagers and felt as if she couldn't approach anybody. She felt lonely, but her thoughts were also stirred by her interaction with Sally earlier.

Sally, who she had thought to be so snobbish, had shown her friendship. Had Sally been trying to show off her superiority? Or was it genuine? Starla couldn't work it out.

"Hey, Starla!" Sonic broke into her thoughts suddenly. She looked at him hurriedly and hurried up chewing a morsel of food she had been chewing.

"Oh," she gulped the food down, "Hello Sonic."

He moved around in front of her and then looked serious. Her skin felt tingly all of a sudden. "Um, I just wanted to say..." Sonic began haltingly. Starla stared at him, her heart beginning to thump hard in her chest. "...that you did a good job turning yourself black. You were really well camouflaged, I didn't think of that." He looked away as he finished talking.

Starla felt butterflies in her stomach as he said this. He had just complimented her! "Oh! Huh... Thank you, Sonic!" she replied bashfully, feeling her cheeks colour. _Sonic just paid me a compliment!_ she babbled excitedly at herself. _He likes me! He likes me!_

"Well, you know," Sonic mumbled, not quite meeting her eyes, "Credit where it's due and all that." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, and her heart melted. Starla found that she was struggling to know how to respond. She just didn't know what to say. "Just thought I'd say so," he shrugged, and then they both fell quiet. "Look, uh, I'm gonna go talk to Rotor. Somethin' I gotta tell him. So, uh... Bye," Sonic said haltingly and turned away to walk back into the crowd. Starla watched him disappear, numbed with shock at their meeting. _He just complimented me,_ she thought as she watched his spiny back. _He likes me._ He filtered further into the tangle of villagers.

And he was gone. Just like that.

SONIC SATAM

Nobody spoke to Starla after that, and her spirits began to sink again. Her conversation with Sonic, and then his hasty disappearance, had also left her in a melancholy mood, although she wasn't quite sure why. Before long she decided that it was time to go to bed. She left the periphery of the crowd - uncomfortably conscious that she didn't need to say goodbye to anybody - and walked unhappily back to her hut. There, she sedately unlocked the door and entered. She shut the door behind her and stood, not quite sure what to do first, inside. She looked around for inspiration.

Under the bed and at the base of the bedside cabinet were a handful of black feathers - the ones she had pulled out yesterday. She paused. There was no need for them to be there. She ducked down and reached under the bed, gathering them up one by one. When she had them all she walked to the corner of the hut and dropped them into the waste bin. She sat down on the bed and interlocked her fingers, still at a loss.

Her encounter with the Freedom Fighters this time had made her think. She didn't know what she had expected from them when she came, but it hadn't been the animosity she had experienced. Neither had she expected to be impressed on that mission. But she had.

She certainly hadn't expected Sally's friendship. How did she feel about the ground squirrel? She frowned in concentration. She didn't like Sally, at least, she didn't _think_ she liked her, but the princess had been kind tonight. _Was_ she trying to be superior? Did she feel sorry for Starla? Or... Starla snorted and shook her head; she had no idea what to make of it, and her pride wasn't going to allow her to be that friendly with Sally quite yet.

Before her thoughts got the better of her she went for a shower.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Chapter 6

THE FOLLOWING MORNING

The night had been long and empty for Starla, and it had seemed like an eternity, not 6 hours, of darkness.

She'd scarcely been able to sleep for the thoughts whirring around in her head. They'd kept her wide awake no matter how snugly she'd hunkered down into the soft comfort of the sheets. So instead, she had watched the gentle swish of the curtains and imagined herself back in Robotropolis, hiding in dark corners and bringing down Hoverbots with her rope and hook. And then she had transported herself into Sonic's arms, the pair of them happy and far away from Sally, laughing together over the princess' rampant jealousy of the pair of them.

Eventually the morning came, slowly creeping in through the window and illuminating the curtains from behind. The sunlight strengthened until it was bold and warm enough to prompt her out of bed.

As she filled the sink with water and reached for the soap, she wondered what would happen today. With everything prepared for her to return home, she guessed she should look for Sally. _Humph,_ she thought as she rubbed soap into her facial fur, _I'm not running after that bitch! She can come and find me. She knows I'm here._

And wait is what Starla did.

IN ROTOR'S HUT

Bunnie picked up another gadget from the pile in the centre of the room and examined it, turning it critically and looking for its fixings. She located the part where its casing was screwed on and and she set to work loosening it. To her right, Antoine carried on dismantling something the was by now becoming difficult to identify. Between them, the Freedom Fighters were reclaiming the fruits of some of Rotor's less useful ventures, and they did so companionably, chatting as they went.

The conversation had fallen into a lull for the time being, and Bunnie looked around. Nobody seemed prepared to speak, but she was convinced that a certain unfinished task was on each of their minds. She decided that she would be the one to open up the conversation.

"So when we gonna get rid of that ol' cat-dog-bird-thingy?" she asked the group at large.

Sonic chuckled. "Not soon enough, Bunnie! Not soon enough."

Bunnie huffed. "Well, Ah want her gone as soon as," she insisted, and twisted the screwdriver to release another screw.

Bunnie had tolerated Starla's presence over the last couple of days with as much reserve as she could, but it was all she could do to hold her tongue around the alien. From the moment she had seen her arrriving in Knothole she had been prepared for more aggressive comments from Starla. Not exactly that she had expected them - she believed she had made her point when they'd come to blows in Robotropolis 10 months ago - but Bunnie wasn't prepared to put anything past that hybrid.

Then she looked across the circle, and saw Sally's eyes on her. The princess looked concerned. Then she looked at Sonic the same way. "Come on, guys," she said quietly. "Don't you think we've ganged up on her enough?"

Bunnie looked at her in surprise, but it was Sonic who voiced her objection. "But Sal," Sonic protested, "she's annoying!" Out of the corner of her eye, Bunnie noticed Rotor nod.

"Uh, huh," Bunnie joined in, glad to have an ally. "And she don't know when to keep that mouth of hers shut. Ah mean, you saw her telling everybody about her damn clever _hiding_ trick yesterday, right?" she continued sarcastically.

Sally frowned at Bunnie in obvious disapproval, and then glanced at Rotor. He caught her gaze and sank back a little, apparently ashamed.

"Well, I-I guess that we're bein' a little cruel," he said uncertainly. Bunnie watched the exchange, and suspected he was saying this simply to avoid confrontation, for he frowned in annoyance immediately after and steadfastly avoided anybody else's eyes.

"Look, I know she's made a lot of mistakes," the princess explained, to which Bunnie huffed. "But is it right to talk behind her back like this?"

Bunnie pulled an expression of indifference and silently continued unscrewing the gadget. She loved Sally like a sister, but right now she felt that the squirrel was defending Starla too much and she wasn't about to agree with her. She placed another screw in the pile, acutely aware that Sally's eyes were still boring into her. Slowly she stopped working, and finally she eyed Sally in return.

"Well, Ah guess you got a point, Sally-girl," she admitted tartly. "But Ah ain't ready to forgive her quite yet. Ah'm sorry but... That's how it is."

Sally nodded. Out of the corner of her eye Bunnie noticed Rotor nod again.

"Okay," Sally said finally. "I'm going to find Starla now and take her for a walk. I'll find a spot to send her back from. Rotor, have you got a bottle of hydrogen ready?"

"Yeah," he said, and indicated a shelf. "It's up there."

Bunnie stubbornly watched Sally reach for the bottle and walk out the door with it. There was no way she was going to sympathise with Starla and if that meant falling out with Sally over it, then... then...

Then she couldn't do it.

She pulled a face at herself: Starla didn't deserve her help, or her sympathy either. But neither was the hybrid worth falling out with her friends over. _Ah guess Ah'd better go with her,_ she decided reluctantly. She sought out Rotor and hooked eyes with him; he looked inscrutibly back at her. Without a word she got up to follow Sally, and after a pause, so did he. She led him out through the doorway.

"Hey! Wait up," called Sonic from behind them as he and Antoine rose to follow too.

SONIC SATAM

Sally knocked on Starla's door and stood back to wait for her to answer. She wasn't sure whether she had expected the others to come with her: Starla had upset everybody else too much. Sally had been angry with Starla before, too, but there was something about her that made Sally want to reach out to her. Did a future queen turn her back on a subject who had done things out of ignorance? Was there the possibility that Starla would apologise? She had to admit, she didn't know. Not yet at least.

Before long she heard a rustling from the other side of the door and the hybrid opened it.

"Hi," Starla said gloomily. Her joyous animation from the previous night seemed to have evaporated and the melancholy had returned. But Sally was determined not to see Starla off like this; she returned the hybrid's misery with a positive smile.

"Shall we go for a walk?" she suggested. "We'll be able to find a SpaceTime pocket more easily that way."

Starla replied with a shrug and a protruding bottom lip and stepped outside.

Sally led her back the way she had come and began to plan a route that would cover as much ground as possible. But as she looked ahead, she saw something she hadn't expected: her friends, smiling benignly and waiting for she and Starla to join them. They'd decided to support her and give the hybrid a proper send-off! She felt a weight lift off her shoulders and offered them a secret, grateful smile. Then she turned to Starla. "It looks like everyone's turned up to say goodbye properly," she said. "Come on, let's get you home!"

SONIC SATAM

As Starla and Sally caught up with the rest of the Freedom Fighters Rotor offered the black female a grudging smile. She looked at everybody and said, "Hi." As the group stood around, Sally prepared Starla for her journey.

"Here's the hydrogen," she said, bottle already in hand. Starla took it and looked through the glass for a moment. Then she transferred it to her other hand and looked at Sally again, apparently waiting for a cue. Rotor frowned at her back. _Aren't you going to say thanks?_ Rotor wondered irritably. Starla didn't even look at him again. _Huh. Whatever._

The princess picked NICOLE from her boot and opened it. She tapped at the keyboard a few times and it beeped in response. "There. NICOLE's set to tell us if we find any SpaceTime areas. Now, let's start walking."

SONIC SATAM

The walk took them to the other side of the meadow and through a thin line of trees and bushes beyond, where the dappled sunlight between those trees illuminated and shaded their pelts and through thick, lush grass that dampened their feet. It brought them in a wide arc through an expanse of wild wheat, where the club-like green ears beat against their legs and rippled in elegant billows in the breeze.

As they walked, Rotor found himself thinking over the situation between the Knothole Freedom Fighters and Starla. He had felt irritated by her presence the whole time she had been here, but unlike Bunnie he couldn't bring himself to speak up to her. Instead, he realised bitterly, he had bribed her to stay away from him and contented himself with gossiping about her behind her back.

And yet, even that hadn't come easy. He looked at her back once more. He didn't like her. Not at all. He still felt embarrassed by her mockery on her last visit. But by laughing at Sonic and Bunnie's gossip, wasn't he bringing himself down to her level? Was that the right thing to do?

He didn't think so. He reviewed how he felt: he didn't want to forgive her. Why? Because he felt she should apologise to him. And, he realised, because she had no idea that she had upset him. But her toe-curling embarrassment of herself at the centre of the Knothole crowd yesterday had made him rethink her motives. Did she just not understand how to treat people? Was she really that clueless?

Rotor considered himself socially inept, but Starla surpassed him by a long way on that score, he judged. So what was he to do? He gave her folded wings a pained look as he realised that he wasn't prepared to forgive her until she realised how objectionable she'd been.

But he didn't feel comfortable with that.

SONIC SATAM

The walk carried on. Starla followed the group mutely, unwilling to speak and confused. She still couldn't make sense of her feelings. Did she feel blue, as she had the night before last? Or did she feel happy, like when Sally had shown her the ropes? She felt angry at Sally for showing her how over-and-above her she was with the rope trick, but was that the right feeling? She tried to give up thinking about it all, but everything swirled in her head and pulled her in contradictory directions. Eventually she decided to ignore her thoughts and focus on the scenery instead.

SONIC SATAM

The walk took them alongside a tributary of the river, which sparkled as they passed by, and it was there, just over 2 hours after they had set off, that they finally found the signal they had been searching for.

NICOLE beeped to signal the presence of a SpaceTime pocket. Sally unhooked the hand-held and opened it, then tapped a button. In a blink of an eye a red, holographic image projected itself around the space. Starla looked from the red patch of air to Sally.

"There it is, Starla," the princess said. "Are you ready to go home?"

Starla nodded, but didn't speak; she had a lump in her throat and was too busy willing it to go away. She looked at the faces of the Freedom Fighters, who were gathered around the red light. In them she saw Sally's expression of light friendliness. Sonic was shifting from one foot to the other impatiently, and as she looked at him he looked at the distant treeline hurriedly. Rotor seemed similarly preoccupied with the distance, but he seemed to realise that she was trying to make eye contact and eventually consented to return the look. His jaw tightened, he flashed a quick, humourless smile at her and then looked away again. Bunnie's expression was one of studied indifference; Starla's gaze skated over her: she wasn't worth talking to. The French guy was neither here nor there. What was there to say to him, anyway?

Still, she had to say something. She cleared her throat. "Th-thank you, for... helping me, uh... go back," she said finally. They replied with a melange of shrugs and mutters, and then fell quiet again.

Starla felt like blurting out something about their unkindness. They were being mean by not being friendlier, and she wanted to put them straight. But... how to say it? _You should all be nicer to visitors,_ maybe? It felt forthright and strong to say, but Starla reviewed it, for it didn't feel right. _No, they took me on the mission and Sally showed me how to hook the branch._ She realised that they hadn't had to have done that. So they'd been friendly? But somehow at the same time it didn't feel like they had.

She couldn't work out what else to say to the group. _Why don't you like me,_ perhaps? No: although she couldn't think of an answer, she felt that their reply would hurt too much to hear. She swallowed down those words too. In search of inspiration, she looked at Sonic again.

 _Sonic._ He had been brave, and he had complimented her. She so desperately wanted to say something to him, but what to say? Did he like her? He didn't look sorry to see her go now, but yesterday evening..? What had that meant? The lump rose again in her throat and Starla realised that she didn't want to leave him. But... she had to. She looked away from him before the tears started to prick her eyes. She looked at the princess instead.

Sally. Sally, Sonic's girlfriend. Sally who had been nice, but was smug enough to have Sonic as her boyfriend. Starla felt herself grow confused and angry again by turns. Sally _must_ have been laughing at her when she'd taught her the rope trick! She had Sonic, and she could fold her arms and laugh right in Starla's face. It was so unfair!

How could she have been so _mean?_ How could she have taught her something and then laughed behind her back afterwards? Suddenly Starla was repulsed. She wanted to leave. She'd had enough of Sally.

"I'm going to go. Bye," she announced croakily and swept into the red hologram. She put her hand on the neck of the bottle to release the hydrogen, but Sally called out to her.

"Starla! Stop!"

Starla glared at her. " _What?!_ " she snapped.

Sally looked taken aback by her sharpness, but shook her head as if to ignore it. "We need to get away from this area, remember? We need Sonic to be ready to take us away."

 _You mean you need to get your boyfriend away from me, so that he doesn't decide to come with-_ but suddenly she understood what Sally meant and felt very sheepish. _Oh yes. They did,_ Starla realised, remembering the previous time. She looked at the floor and scuffed her feet. "Oh yeah. I forgot. Sorry," she shrugged. Sally closed NICOLE and joined the line that the other Freedom Fighters had formed.

"Okay everyone, link up," Sonic ordered, and they did. As Starla watched, everybody braced themselves. She looked at Sally, unsure of who else to turn to, but a tide of fury and jealousy washed over her as she saw the look that Sally gave Sonic, and he to her. Her eyes moistened.

"Goodbye, Starla," Sally said. "Good luck." Starla nodded, unable to speak. "Sonic?" Sally prompted, and with that, he sped off, leaving Starla by herself beside a sparkling river.

The sorrow overcame Starla then and she burst into tears. Only blearily aware of what she was doing, she wrested the cork out of the bottle. White light surrounded her and she felt a gust pull

 _her through between one universe and another._

MOBIUS, THAT AFTERNOON

Sonic and Sally sat by the edge of the village back to back, leaning on eachother and enjoying the calm and stillness of the day. With Starla gone, and NICOLE functioning well again, they could afford to enjoy the lull before the next mission. But Sally didn't want to think about that right now. Bunnie had been right: sometimes life was just too pleasant to waste on planning the future.

Behind her, Sonic seemed equally happy to sit and do nothing. That was a little unusual and Sally looked at him out of the corner of her eye. She liked moments like this, when his easy authority combined with an end-of-the-day tiredness and made the perfect ambience to lose track of time. It made her feel relaxed. But still, he would normally be more active at this time. And she thought she knew why.

"Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Starla's going to be alright?"

He shrugged, and the thickened spine-hairs on his shoulders rustled roughly against her back. "Who cares?" he asked in an exaggerated tone, "She's gone."

Yep, her suspicion had been right. "You really don't like her, do you?" she laughed lightly.

He turned around as far as he could. "Well, duh. And you _do?_ "

She looked at the distance and thought for a moment, absently picking a blade of grass and splitting it in half while she wondered how to word her feelings. "Hmm... no," she decided finally. "But I guess I feel a little sorry for her. I just wonder if she'll ever learn how to treat people."

Sonic snorted. "No way! She just ain't got it. She ain't one of us, Sal. She just ain't a cool chick."

 _Chick?_ Sally smiled wryly at this, sensing an opportunity to tease her companion. "And who do you think is, Sonic Hedgehog?"

He paused. For several seconds.

"Uh..." he started haltingly. Sally curled up with supressed laughter at his sudden reticence. "Uh, well... I'm just sayin' that- _Sal!_ Stop laughin'!"

But she couldn't; she was in stitches. She could tell when Sonic was feeling shy by his tone and she knew just as well as he did that he'd been caught out.

"Right, that's it!" the hedgheog bristled and stood up, letting Sally fall backwards. "You're in trouble, Sal!"

"You'll have to catch me first!" she taunted. She got up onto her feet and ran away, knowing that Sonic would jog after her and curse and complain, but just as certain that this was just a good-natured game.

Friendship was great!

THE END.


End file.
